


Perfection And Power (Are Overrated)

by Insatiables (orphan_account)



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The 100 (TV)
Genre: Crossover, F/F, F/M, Female-Centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-18 07:25:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8153860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Insatiables
Summary: “Your lesson was to move the boulder Lexa, not to destroy it.” Anya says, looking unimpressed.It’s Lexa’s turn to roll her eyes at her cousin. “Sorry, I got carried away this time.”“You always say that.” She continues. “You have to find peace and balance, do not rush anything. Always getting angry will not make you learn anything from what I am trying to teach you.”“Tell me why I agreed that you teach me earth bending again?”





	1. Chapter 1

“You’re weak, Lexa.” Anya grumbles under her breath. “Your parents will be disappointed in your lack of skills.”

 

Lexa wipes out the beads of sweat running down her forehead and neck. Her cousin might not be the nicest teacher, but she always been like this since they’re young. Always pushing her to the limits of her capacities, so much that Lexa would often come home sore and head directly to bed. She lets out a sigh of annoyance and takes the stance Anya asked her to, readying herself to repeat the sequence – the same one – she had been doing since daybreak. She is tired but definitely wants to prove her worth to her older cousin. She shows a lot of concentration on her tasks and, finally, Anya shuts her mouth to examine her again.

 

 _I’m going to move this damn rock_ , Lexa encourages herself, tightening her fists until her knuckles are white. She inhales sharply before opening her legs, a little larger than her shoulders, and lowers her center of gravity. She focuses on the boulder in front of her and shoots her left fist in the air in a perfectly calculated motion.

 

The rock moves from a few inches, but Lexa knows that it definitely won’t satisfy her cousin. She takes another step forward, coming closer to the boulder, and repeats the same sequence with her right arm. Her annoyance shows as it doesn’t move this time. Earth bending is supposed to be easy and come to her naturally; her mother is an earth-bender and her father is a fire-bender. It runs in her family too; Anya is also an earth-bender and she learned _by herself_ how to bend because her father is a fire-bender like Lexa’s father and her mother doesn’t have any bending skills. It frustrates herself that her cousin, only two years older than her, has to teach her to bend. To Lexa’s defense, she had only discovered a few months ago that she has the same capacities as her mother.

 

Anya rolls her eyes and crosses her arms on her chest. “This is pathetic.”

 

Lexa glares at her and doesn’t miss how the corners of her cousins lips curls in a smug smirk. How Anya finds this amusing is pissing Lexa off, but she tries to ignore it. _Getting angry will incapacitate me even more_ , she tries to reason herself. Or it could help her, but she would be a useless bender is she can control earth bending only when she is angry.

 

“Try again.”

 

She continues and repeats the sequence, clenching her teeth together. Lexa lets out a breath and takes another step, sending her fist towards the boulder. If it doesn’t move more this time, she’ll stop. She can’t keep trying without any success. It’s tiring and demotivating her. She doesn’t want to be the shame of her family.

 

Lexa is so much focused on her task that she completely forgot about the _distance_. Her fist collides with the rough surface of the boulder and she curses at the sharp pain. The young brunette curses out loud, earning a hard glare from her cousin, but she doesn’t care because _even physically_ she couldn’t move the rock. She doesn’t care about her hand anymore, because her parents will look at her bloody knuckles and understand that she _failed_ today’s lesson again.

 

Anya still cares about her well-being enough to ask her if it hurts, but Lexa doesn’t listen to her. Instead, she moves to a fighting stance, lowering herself even more. The grunt that comes out of her mouth sounds primitive, as she brings her intact fist up in the air, gathering all her energy to _destroy_ the boulder with a spike from the soil. She feels the power flow in her veins and, for a moment, Lexa is proud of herself because she reduced the boulder to a pile of little rocks.

 

It takes a moment for her to come down of her high. When she does, it’s because she can feel the pulsations running through her hand and it’s quite painful. She looks down at her knuckles and can see the blood coating her fingers and dripping on the ground. The realisation that she failed this simple task once more time hits her and she feels defeated. Her mother would not be proud.

 

“Your lesson was to _move_ the boulder Lexa, not to _destroy_ it.” Anya says, looking unimpressed.

 

It’s Lexa’s turn to roll her eyes at her cousin. “Sorry, I got carried away this time.”

 

“You always say that.” She continues. “You have to find peace and balance, do not rush anything. Always getting angry will not make you learn anything from what I am trying to teach you.”

 

“Tell me why I agreed that you teach me earth bending again?” Lexa asks rhetorically.

 

Anya ignores that her younger cousin is not really asking her a question and answers: “Because it is your mother that asked me to.” She smirks smugly, knowing that it will frustrate Lexa even more. “She wants the best earth bending teacher for you… and that happens to be me.”

 

“She asked you because we don’t have the money to afford a _real_ teacher.” Lexa snarls, walking towards her.

 

“And because I’m a _great_ earth-bender.” Anya points out, shrugging. Lexa hates that her cousin takes so much pleasure in seeing her struggling with her abilities. “We can stop for today, I think you’ve had enough.” Lexa grumbles but doesn’t object. She needs to bathe and take care of her injury before it gets infected. “Tomorrow, same time. We’re going to work on your meditation, you need it a little.”

 

Lexa wants to punch her in the face for mocking her with her struggles. One day, she’ll prove Anya that she’s a great earth-bender too… and hopes that she’ll learn metal bending by herself before her cousin does. Lexa agrees with a nod and turns her back on Anya, leaving the stone pit where they always train. It’s far enough from Republic City and no one has ever came to this place before, so it became their training grounds.

 

* * *

 

The sun is at its highest in the sky. Lexa’s stomach grumbles loudly at the lack of attention and Lexa sighs. Today had been a rough day already and she wants nothing more than to get home, bathe and fall asleep in bed, but she knows it’s unlikely going to happen. Her parents would probably have an important meeting at their house and she would be forced to stay outside for a few hours. She probably has time to get home and take care of her hand before her mother comes home from work. She decides that jogging will be faster and also help to clear her mind from unwanted thoughts.

 

Twenty minutes later, Lexa is back at her house, cleaning her hand and applying a bandage on her knuckles. _I really should learn to find balance, like Anya says_ , Lexa tells herself as she looks at her reflection in the mirror – though she’ll never admit to her cousin how right she is about her poor earth bending skills. It’s only more frustrating than anything. She can endure Anya’s remarks, but she only want to make her parents proud, which she knows won’t happen in a matter of a few lessons. It will take time and hard work to get as good as Anya.

 

Anya had time to master earth bending. She discovered at 14 years-old her abilities and now, three years later, she is as good as Lexa’s mother. Of course, she didn’t tell anyone outside of their family, since practicing bending before 16 years-old is illegal. It was one of the latest wishes of Avatar Korra before her death. The Government, with Beilon Jr. II as president, decided that it was for the best to introduce the law for benders of all elements. Being only 15 years-old, Lexa isn’t supposed to practice her bending. This is one of the reasons why Anya trains her at the stone pit. Both of them are well aware of the risks of being caught, so does their parents. They risk prison – even Anya – for an undetermined time. The Government explains this law as a necessity to avoid another civil conflict between benders and non-benders. Nothing happened after Korra took down Amon and the Equalists a few decades ago, but they would rather not risk any conflict.

 

As benders, Lexa’s parents are against this law, of course. Being a bender is an important tradition that has to be instructed to the next generation, to their children. Indra, Lexa’s mother, agrees that benders, even if they are now a minority, have the right to practice their abilities and occupy important roles in their society. The Government gives more power to non-benders, because their voice is their _power_ , unlike benders. They judge that, since there’s a majority of non-benders, they deserve a bigger place in the society. There are above 60% of the representatives that are non-benders and the president himself, even if he is the son of a fire-bending woman, is a non-bender. Gustus, Lexa’s father, thinks the same as Indra, but is more adamant on the fact that benders have always been better on political grounds and the world had always been ruled by benders. All nations lived in harmony before; yes, there had been wars before, but it always ended with the Avatar saving the day and restoring balance in the world. If not for Aang and Korra, the world wouldn’t be at peace now; the Fire nation would have taken over the world or the spirit world would be unbalanced. Benders are not made for restrictions – because yes, being 16 years-old or above isn’t the only law the Government made to have an eye on benders. There are a lot and every benders need to apply them or they could end up in prison. It’s as simple as that – they can’t use their abilities to save _non-benders_ from an accident.

 

Lexa hears the front door open and she hears the voices of her parents arguing over something. They’re speaking fast, not loud, but Lexa can hear a few interesting things about a _rebellion_ , which makes her realise something. _They don’t know I’m here. They probably think that I’m still training with Anya._ She pinches her lips and shakes her head. Lexa doesn’t want to eavesdrop on her parents having an important and adult conversation. She doesn’t want to get reprimanded, yet it’s not her fault if the walls of their house is paper thin.

 

She opens the bathroom’s door and she hears them stop talking. She puts on a smile on her face and goes down the stairs to greet them. “Hi, Mother. Father.” She nods at them and moves to the kitchen, grabbing a banana – the less expensive fruit on the market – and peels it.

 

“You finished your training with Anya.” Indra states, looking at her daughter. Lexa is still dishevelled from her training and she didn’t have time to bathe yet. She knows that she can’t avoid this conversation with her mother. “Did you improve?”

 

Lexa notices her mother’s eyes darting to her injured arm and she knows she can’t lie about this. She’s not also one to beat around the bush. “Not much.” She says, carefully choosing her words. “Anya thinks I get frustrated too easily and I can’t focus. We’re meditating tomorrow.”

 

“You hurt yourself?” Gustus asks, moving to take Lexa’s hand delicately. Lexa’s father is a tall and large bearded man who looks like – according to Anya – a mean man. Though, everyone knows that he’s more like a teddy bear. Between Indra and him, he definitely is the soft parent. “What happened?”

 

Lexa lets out a sigh. “I got angry and punched the _damn_ boulder.”

 

“Lexa.” One word is enough for Indra to reprimand her daughter.

 

“Sorry.” Yes, she is still angry at this rock.

 

“You need to improve with your earth bending.” Indra scowls. “If I had time, I’d teach you myself, but I know that Anya is a good bender and can teach you a few things.”

 

“Don’t be so hard on her, Indra.” Gustus tells his wife, his lips curving a little into a small smile. “Our daughter is only fifteen years-old. I didn’t know I was a fire-bender before I was eighteen. She is lucky with her abilities, but I don’t think pushing her beyond her limits is good for improvement. She has to learn at her pace.”

 

Lexa is forever thankful to have Gustus as a father. He is definitely softer than his brother Tristan, Anya’s father. “I will try harder, Mother.”

 

Indra gives a glance at them and nods sharply. “I want Anya to tell me how _hard_ you train by the end of the week. If you don’t improve, I will teach you myself and you’ll get better in a matter of _time_.”

 

“Understood.”

 

“We have a reunion in a few hours.” Gustus points out. “We require the house and shall not be disturbed. You could take this time to focus on your meditation.”

 

“I’ll surely do that. I have to bathe now, if you’ll excuse me.”

 

Indra leaves the kitchen and Gustus looks down at his daughter. “Sorry about that. She is upset because of her work and took it out on you.” Lexa says nothing, because it’s not the first time her mother did that. “But tell me, what did you do with the boulder, Lexa?”

 

She gives him an amused smile. “I _destroyed_ it.”

 

* * *

 

After scrubbing all the sweat and dirt from her skin, Lexa finally gets out of the bath. The trickiest part of cleaning herself up was to wash her hair; she found that it was quite hard to do it with an injured hand. She puts on clean and fresh clothes, gathers the used towels and her dirty clothing, and gets out of the bathroom. She heads upstairs to her room without a noise and, when she finally discarded everything in her arms in the laundry basket, she picks up her bag.

 

Her parents are in the living room with her uncle Tristan. Lexa doesn’t know what they are talking about, but she knows it’s probably just small talk. _They’re waiting for me to leave the house to get down to business_ , Lexa understands. She smiles at her uncle, who nods back at her seriously. There’s so much of him in Anya, it’s almost surprising.

 

“Hi uncle.” She tells him, then looks at her parents. “I’m going out to meditate. I’ll be back at sundown.”

 

“Okay Lexa, be careful.” Gustus gives her a warm smile and pats her on the shoulder. She always loved her father’s affection.

 

She pushes the front door, leaving her parents and uncle alone and talking about business in the living room. The fresh air hits her and she inhales deeply; summer is almost gone, being replaced by autumn. Soon, the leaves will change of color and start falling on the ground. It’s Lexa’s favourite season; the colors are beautiful and she enjoys even more spending time outside.

 

The young earth-bender makes her way in Republic City, having one place in mind for her meditation; Avatar Korra’s and Aang’s memorial statues. Both were constructed in the water surrounding Republic City’s air temple, where the air nomads live. Since Korra spent a few years in the city and was of great help against Amon, Quvira and her own uncle Unalaq, they decided that it was for the best that the memorial was erected in Republic City and not in the Southern water tribe, where she was born. Lexa has always found both memorials very impressive, ever since she was a child.

 

It takes her half an hour on feet to get to the memorial – of course, knowing that she couldn’t come back to her house before sundown, she took her time. Usually, it takes her less than fifteen minutes to walk.

 

Lexa admires the statues from afar. She will meditate here, since it is interdicted to swim to the memorials. Police forces had claimed the Avatars’ statues to be property of the Government and, unless it’s under supervision, no one can visit it. Lexa would have loved to meditate right in front of Korra’s memorial; she somehow thinks that it could have gave her enough strength and willpower to _finally_ fully control her earth bending abilities.

 

She jumps over the fence with agility to get to the shore. They said that _swimming_ in the lake was illegal, not meditating on the shore. She doubts that she will get reprimanded for trespassing the fence – unless officers just want to put her in trouble. She will be discreet enough to be unnoticed, she hopes.

 

Taking a deep breath in, Lexa takes off her bag from her shoulder and shoves her hand inside. She finds a blanket, which she lays on the ground for her to sit on. When she is comfortably installed on the ground, Lexa looks up at the statues one last time before closing her eyes. _Focus on your control, on your inner peace_ , she tells herself, reminding that she couldn’t get angry this time. She needs to focus on nothing else than _balance_. Instead of resting her elbows on her knees and bringing her fingers together, she puts the palms of her hands on the ground – ignoring the pain the movement brings to her injured hand. It is not a conventional method of meditation, according to Anya, but it always worked better for Lexa.

 

She feels the uneven soil underneath her fingers and it’s _calming_. She can sense the energy flow from the ground to the tip of her fingers, tickling her, then spreading to her hands and forearms. It’s an overwhelming feeling of _control_ and Lexa takes pleasure in this. If only her Mother could understand that she is better at controlling her earth bending abilities when she by herself. Unfortunately, there’s nobody to prove what she is capable of doing if no one watches her.

 

After a few minutes of thinking of absolutely nothing, concentrating herself to be _calm_ and _peacefull_ , Lexa finally enters a trance. She doesn’t even hear the sounds of Republic City at all; a car suddenly breaking at a red light, people walking and laughing loudly, Lexa hears _nothing_. Gladly. All she feels is the Earth beneath her fingertips and she is mesmerized, feeling it breathe through her. She doesn’t know for how long she stays immobile like this, but she knows it must be a few hours. When she opens her eyes, she is faced with the amazing orange sunset behind Avatar Aang and Avatar Korra statues. She knows she should leave the place because she told her parents that she’ll be back before sundown, but it’s _beautiful_ and she remains in her meditating position, lost in her thoughts.

 

She finds herself thinking about the Avatar spirit, supposed to be passed down to another bender since Avatar Korra died a few years ago of old age. According to traditions, the next Avatar should be an earth bender. The Government looked around all Earth nation grounds, but found nothing. Perhaps the tradition broke when Korra had trouble with the spirit world – she had lost Raava and had to fight Vaatu in order to restore the balance with both the spirit world and the real world. When she finally let Raava back into her Avatar spirit, Korra decided to keep the portal to the spirit world open – thinking that perhaps the first Avatar didn’t made the right choice to close it in the first place. _What if it’s over now, there will be no more Avatars to restore balance in the world?_ Lexa asks herself. That would mean, with Korra’s death, that the _last_ Avatar died and the circle was over, which she thinks is impossible. From the beginning of times, there had always been someone to look up for their people. That would also mean that the Government could make new laws against benders without someone to look after them – which, somehow, angers Lexa. They need an Avatar on their side.

 

She lets out a sharp breath when she hears footsteps behind her – two persons, apparently – were coming right in her direction. They probably spotted her from the other side of the fence. Maybe it was _guards_ , which would mean that she’ll be in trouble.

 

Lexa turns her head in the direction of the footsteps. To her surprise, they’re not guards, but teenagers just like her. Still. They noticed her and she can’t let them report her to anyone. Her parents would be mad at her if she got into trouble – not that it’s something she does often. She stands up rapidly and picks up the blanket to shove it in her bag.

 

The strangers, a young girl and an older boy, look at her with curiosity written all over their faces. Lexa grits her teeth together, thinking that now she will definitely be home late and make her parents worried to death. _I should ignore them and walk away_ , Lexa tells herself. This way she would avoid any interactions with the other teenagers. She decides to walk towards the fence, eyes on the ground to avoid meeting their eyes. Lexa hears them murmur a few things to each other, but it’s not loud enough for her to hear.

 

* * *

 

“You told us you were getting back here at sundown.” Indra scolds her, giving her a hard look. Lexa knows it’s her fault and won’t protest or talk back at her mother. She is used to this. She’ll be reprimanded, but her chores will be to clean the house and water the plants – a thing she does regularly, usually in the morning when her parents are at work.

 

Lexa lowers her gaze. “I’m sorry, Mother. I lost track of time.”

 

Indra scoffs in return. “I hope you meditated well. Now go to sleep, you look tired. You will need strength for your training with Anya tomorrow morning.”

 

“Yes, of course.”

 

“Good night, Lexa.” Gustus says, smiling at her, a smile that is impossible for Lexa not to return.

 

Lexa gets upstairs to her room and changes for her nightwear. Before getting to bed, she opens the window to let the fresh air inside her room, then closes her door. As soon as she puts her head on her pillow, her eyes close and she falls asleep.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Lexa did not sleep well that night, even with the fresh air of the night cooling her bedroom. She woke up a few times in the middle of the night, due to nightmares or hearing creepy noises from her house – it’s old and she is used to it by now, but it’s a complete different thing in the middle of the night. She might be 15 years-old, but you’re never too old to have bad dreams, which she doesn’t remember at all once she wakes up. She knows it’s the _same nightmare_ , but she forgets everything when she opens her eyes.

 

She is tired, but has to gets out of bed somehow to make her way to the stone pit for her training with Anya. The sun starts to make its daily appearance far away, behind the mountains circling Republic City, coloring the sky with shades of pink an orange. It’s a beautiful sight. Lexa might not be a morning person like her parents, but she still likes to get up to watch it; her day is even better if she can take a nap right after eating her breakfast, which doesn’t happen a lot when her parents are around. They usually stay at home until Lexa has to leave for her earth bending trainings. When she doesn’t train, she usually spends time with her cousin anyways.

 

After washing her parents’ dishes and hers, she goes upstairs to change into training clothes. It’s nothing particular, but it’s mostly loose trousers and a tank top. It’s not very warm outside, therefore she grabs a sweater. She’ll remove it when she starts training.

 

Lexa tells her parents goodbye and wishes them to have a good day. Indra tells her to train hard and make her proud, to which Lexa answers that she will. Gustus simply drops a kiss to his daughter’s forehead and gives her a warm smile that definitely makes her feel like training with Anya will go well today. She leaves a few minutes later, bag on her shoulder, hitting the road to the stone pits. She walks slowly, knowing that, sooner or later, Anya will catch up with her on the trail. If she doesn’t, there’s a rock where Lexa waits for her.

 

Today, she has to wait for her cousin at the rock. Lexa knows that Anya is not an early bird and that Tristan probably had to tell her to wake up a few times before she actually got up. She and Lexa look equally tired. At the moment she spots her cousin’s dirty blonde hair, Lexa cracks a smile. “Anya has graced us with her presence.” She greets her, getting up from the rock she was sitting on.

 

Her cousin lets of a groan of annoyance in return. “You, be quiet. I am not fully awake yet.”

 

“I can see this.” The young brunette says with a grin. “I think meditation will be good for you this morning... if you don’t fall asleep.”

 

Anya rolls her eyes at her cousin’s teasing. “I have far more control than that.”

 

* * *

 

Lexa is calm again, just like the previous evening in front of Avatar Aang’s and Korra’s memorial statues. Anya is even more concentrated in her meditation than her. Lexa takes advantage of her cousin’s concentration to bury her hands into the ground, feeling the sand and dirt underneath her fingers. She doesn’t know why she can’t focus in a traditional meditating pose, but this does it and she enters a trance a few minutes after touching the soil with her hands. She lets the energy flow through her body, marvelling in the way it spreads so easily through her. Everything underneath her fingers is _life_ and being able to touch it, to _bend it_ , is amazing to Lexa. She takes in a deep breath and enjoys the earthy scent of the woods, the flowers, the fresh air…

 

A snore deconcentrates her and she turns her head towards Anya. She doesn’t know if she should be annoyed or amused by her cousin’s tiredness. Usually, she doesn’t wake up by herself; Lexa has to do it.

 

The young brunette lets out a sigh, a smirk on her lips even though she had been distracted from her meditating state. She raises her hand and smacks the dirty blond haired teenager. Anya is startled by the hit and she hisses like a snake, getting up to her feet. “Why did you do that? You’re supposed to meditate, Lexa!”

 

She can’t refrain the chuckle that escapes from her mouth. “I _was_ meditating, but you started snoring and couldn’t stay focused.”

 

“The whole point of meditation is to not let things distract you.” Anya points out, crossing her arms on her chest. “No wonder you have trouble with your bending if you can’t even focus with this simple task.”

 

“I’ll have you know that your snores are quite loud.” Lexa counters, getting up. “And I only discovered my abilities two months ago. You’ve practiced for _years_. I can’t learn at the same pace than you.”

 

“I learned alone. You have me to help you.”

 

Lexa scrunches her eyes. “I am no prodigy like you.”

 

“It’s not true.” Anya continues, taking a step forward to face her younger cousin. “You are _talented_ and you have a chance that most people can’t have. You’re an earth-bender, you have to understand that you possess powers that some people would die to have.”

 

“No, _you_ don’t understand.” Lexa bares her teeth. “I can’t learn as fast as _you_ did, I can’t concentrate as hard as _you_ do because I can barely –”

 

Anya frowns as she stops listening to her cousin’s bickering; she heard something coming from a bush near them and immediately started to feel threatened. She shushes Lexa, who gives her an incredulous look in return, offended by her cousin’s lack of empathy and her arrogance.

 

“We’re not alone.” Anya says before Lexa has time to retort. “Stay quiet.”

 

It’s not a suggestion, but an order and Lexa does as she’s told, not wanting to get them in trouble. They were just meditating, after all, right? They didn’t even do any earth bending today. Lexa itches to ask Anya something, _anything_ , but no words come out of her mouth. Instead, she watches her cousin remove her footwear and feel the ground underneath her. _No way_ , Lexa thinks. _Anya can echolocate people through the ground_. She heard somewhere that it’s a very rare form of earth bending, just like metal bending.

 

Anya closes her eyes and Lexa can see the shadow of a smirk on her lips. “Watch and learn.” She tells Lexa, moving to a fighting stance.

 

Lexa doubts that her cousin has the greatest of ideas, but she still watches her with attention. Anya breathes out and takes one step forward, then raises her fists in the air in a calculated motion, stopping at her chest. They hear complaints coming from behind the bushes and they look at each other. Anya trapped someone.

 

“Quick, before they run away from us.” And then Anya takes off, still barefoot.

 

She is not surprised that Anya’s first reaction is an offensive method, but Lexa doubts it’s the best; maybe they are guards who followed us to discover what they were doing in the stone pits, which is a very likely thing to happen. Anyone suspecting them to practice their bending could have sold them out. Anya risked prison – that’s mainly why Lexa thinks it’s not very wise to use an offensive method about intruders they didn’t even see yet.

 

Lexa follows her cousin, running at the same pace, in the direction of where they heard the complaints.

 

Anya trapped the intruders long enough for them to get at close distance. Their feet are stock in the mud and they can barely move, but the girl manages to remove one foot from Anya’s trap. It’s when she looks up at them that Lexa thinks that her face is vaguely familiar. Now that she thinks of it, the boy tells her something too.

 

“Why are you spying on us?” Anya almost barks, getting in a fighting stance again.

 

The boy, who seems a little bit older than the girl, puts his hands into fists and glares at Anya. He stays quiet, but not the girl. “I’m sorry, we didn’t want to scare you.”

 

Lexa almost lets out a chuckle, because _Anya_ getting _scared_ because of harmless teenagers is something that she would do anything to see. It’s not usual for her cousin of being afraid, especially not because of people. Tristan raised his daughter to be strong and fearless.

 

“You did not frighten me.” She answers, still glaring at them intensely. “I believe you saw what we were doing.”

 

“We did.” The boy says. “What will you do about it? Torture us to keep us quiet about teaching earth-bending illegally?”

 

“Only if I have to.” Anya continues.

 

“Anya, please.” Lexa rolls her eyes at her cousin. _Torture, really?_ She shakes her head negatively, not believing that she seriously thinks of torturing teenagers. It’s not like they really risk anything, right? “Sorry for my cousin’s behaviour, she can be quite… intense sometimes.”

 

“I can see that.” The younger girl replies. “Look, we’re not going to say anything, okay? We just wanted to watch you earth bending, that’s all.”

 

Anya continues to look at them suspiciously. “And why is that so?”

  
“First, can you remove the foot traps?”

Lexa’s cousin sighs, but obliges. After a moment, the other teenagers are free from Anya’s mud traps and they start talking. “We were curious to see other benders.”

 

“You can earth bend?” Anya asks, clearly not believing that the girl could.

 

“Not exactly.” She answers. “I am a fire-bender. He is a water-bender.”

 

Lexa takes a step forward, getting closer to them. They’re definitely the two persons that interrupted her meditation the previous evening. “I know you.” Anya turns her head towards her and frown. “I saw you yesterday, in front of the memorial statues.”

 

“And we’re also neighbors. Kind of.” As soon as the words leave the girl’s mouth, the boy smacks her shoulder. “Ouch, _dumbass_!” Anya snorts at the action. Lexa is sure that her cousin thinks that they are funny now – even if she probably still considers them as a threat. “Pardon my brother, he has awful manners.”

 

“I’ve never seen you before yesterday.” Lexa tells them.

 

“We recently moved to our aunt’s place.”

 

“Who are you, anyways?” Anya asks. Lexa thinks that girl’s brother is not the only one who lack of manners.

 

“I am Octavia and the broody one is Bellamy.” She answers, a smile at the corners of her lips. She crosses her arms on her chest and looks at them. “And you?”

 

“I’m Lexa.” She tells them. “And this is my cousin Anya.”

 

“It’s nice to meet you.” Octavia nudges at her brother. “Isn’t that right, Bell?” The teenage boy only rolls his eyes in response. Lexa thinks that they look a bit like her and Anya, though she is more reserved than Octavia. Anya and Bellamy keep staring at each other like they’re going to throw knives to the other. Very nice. Her cousin doesn’t have the social skills to make friends, apparently. “Can we watch your earth bending training?”

 

Lexa glances at the dirty blonde haired girl. Anya wears a scowls and it looks like she is going to refuse. She is quicker than her cousin to answer. “Of course, we don’t mint. Right, Anya?”

 

Anya lets out an annoyed sigh. “Fine. But if you say anything about this practice, I’m kicking both of you to South Pole and I promise you it’s going to _hurt_. Understood?” Octavia gulps down and nods her understanding. Bellamy quirks his eyebrows, but stays silent. “Good.”

 

* * *

 

An hour later, Bellamy and Octavia are still staring at them in awe. It’s clear that they didn’t get to see people using their bending, because they look amazed by Lexa and Anya’s skills. Having someone other than her cousin watching her makes Lexa far more confident and her earth bending skills are more controlled. She’s exhausted and Anya is relentlessly shoving rocks for her to block. The best part of her training, so far, has been that she didn’t injure herself. Her hand still hurts from the previous day, but the harder she trains, the less she feels pain. Lexa is very glad for that, because now she can show her skills to someone else than Anya and she doesn’t make a total fool of herself.

 

Sweat is dropping from her forehead and running down her neck. The back of her tank top is soaked and she knows she should take a break before she misses Anya’s attack and takes it right in the face. She doesn’t want this to happen.

 

“Can we stop, Anya?” She asks her cousin, lowering her hands.

 

“I don’t know, can we?”

 

Lexa frowns as Anya attacks her again. She barely has time to move on the side to avoid getting hit by the rock. “I could use some rest.”

 

“All you do is rest.”

 

Lexa sighs. “All you do is complain.” She doesn’t want to have an argument with her cousin again, but she can’t help to talk back at her. It’s not even noon yet, but she already thinks of the softness of her mattress and the good sleep she will get after taking a hot shower tonight.

 

Anya still maintains her fighting stance. “I will let you take a break when _I_ judge that you need one.” Lexa sees, at the corner of her eyes, Octavia and her brother looking at each other, uncomfortable by Anya’s insistence. But her cousin doesn’t care about what they might think of her, she wants to teach Lexa earth bending the hard way – because, according to her, that’s how the greatest earth-bender trained.

 

Lexa breathes out and shakes her head, silently pleading to take a break. She sees Anya move her hands and reacts before the rocks are in the air; Lexa stomps her foot on the ground and lets out a grunt. She punches in front of her, in the air, then falls on her knees. It’s the last effort she can give for now.

 

Next thing she knows, Anya is hit by a large rock up, flies up in the air and then falls on the ground with a loud thump. She lets out a groan and, a few seconds later, she sits up, both hands supporting her body. Lexa’s first reaction is to lunge forward to be at her cousin’s sides, looking at her to see if she is injured. She doesn’t care if Anya is mad at her, she only wants to see if she hurt her.

 

“Oh my god Anya, I’m sorry.” She says, taking her arm to see if her elbow has scratches. She is relieved to see that there is none. She only hopes that she didn’t hit her head. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”

 

Her cousin lets out a chuckle and brushes off the dirt off her clothes. “You didn’t.” She says, looking up at her. “You were good, actually. You executed the motion perfectly.” She expected Anya lashing out at her, but certainly not complimenting her. Lexa is speechless for a second. “All those repetitions you did paid, after all.”

 

“You did that to test me, right?” Lexa doesn’t know if she has to be mad at her cousin or, on the contrary, thankful – because she did hit her cousin and controlled herself, even though she was frustrated. It was a good move.

 

“Absolutely and it worked.” Anya nods at her. “Now you’ve had enough for today.”

 

Octavia comes towards them, followed by Bellamy, and she is all smiles towards Lexa. “That was awesome! I was wondering when you’d kick her ass – no offense, Anya, but you totally look like a jerk when you train with Lexa.”

 

Anya shrugs. “None taken.”

 

“But seriously, are you hurt? Did you hit your head?” Lexa asks her.

 

“I’m fine.” She reassures her. “I am satisfied of your training. But now, I think you were only holding back to avoid hurting me.”

 

“Are you done training for today?” Bellamy asks.

 

That’s probably the most words Bellamy aligned when speaking to them. Lexa is surprised – and she is not the talkative kind either. “I think so. I really need to shower right now.”

 

Octavia looks at them, a smile glued to her lips. “What are you doing later?”

 

Anya speaks first. “I’ll be working at the tea shop.”

 

“I don’t have anything planned. My parents will probably have a meeting at our place and I don’t like to stick around much when they talk business.” Lexa tells them. “Why?”

 

“We’re doing this little gathering between friends.” Octavia informs them. “You should join us if you want.”

 

Lexa represses a grimace. She doesn’t have a lot of friends – it’s mostly Anya, but it doesn’t really count, because she is her cousin. Still, it’s the person she hangs around the most. Then there’s Tris, Anya’s co-worker, who is really nice, but where she only sees at the coffee shop. Ok, Lexa doesn’t have friends. Maybe she lacks of social skills. She looks at Anya, who only shrugs in answer. “I don’t know…” She doesn’t really have an excuse to avoid this. She told them that she usually doesn’t stick around her parents when they are talking business at their house.

 

“We’re not forcing you. It’s only a few of our friends and they’re pretty funny.” Octavia continues. “It will be better than meditating in front of the memorial statues, for sure.”

 

“Okay.” Lexa looks at her and nods. “I’ll come, but not for long. I’m exhausted.”

 

* * *

 

First thing first; shower. As soon as she pushes the front door of her houses, she moves to the bathroom to bathe. She gets rid of her dirt and sweat soaked clothes, discarding them on the ground, and gets in the bathtub. Lexa enjoys the cool water on her skin and, for a moment, she allows herself to relax and think for a bit. For a first time in a while, she is satisfied of her training with Anya. Her cousin might be hard on her with the practice, but she has a point when she tells Lexa that she won’t learn anything if she doesn’t try harder. Being watched by two pairs of eyes was also something different from their usual training.

 

Lexa starts thinking about Octavia’s friends gathering later in the evening. She said that she would go, but not for long. It is true that she is exhausted – though the shower helps to keep her awake. She doesn’t know if it’s a good thing to hang around people she just met the day before; her parents would probably disapprove of their daughter befriending strangers.

 

After getting rid of the sweat and dirt on her skin, she finally gets out of the shower, still thinking about her newest acquaintances. Bellamy and Octavia look like they’re genuine and definitely are interesting. Lexa wishes she had seen them doing their fire and water bending routines – if they had one. It always amazed her to see how other benders were doing with their skills, not that she wants to compare herself to them.

 

She changes herself to get into fresh clothes and goes downstairs to join her parents – who arrived after she got in the shower. Her father winks playfully at her and Lexa smiles warmly at him. She gives a nod to her mother, who gazes at her intensely.

 

“We were at your uncle’s place earlier.” Indra starts, looking down at the vegetables she was cutting. “I saw Anya. She told us that you did well today in training.” If Lexa had been talking to someone else than her mother, she would have probably said that she only tried her best, but she remains silent. “I trust her word.”

 

“Thank you.” Lexa says, nodding to her again,

 

Gustus moves from his chair and puts a warm hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “One day, I’ll have to watch you train, kid.” He tells her. “Maybe we could do a friendly father-daughter fight, what do you say?”

 

Lexa smiles at him. “I’d like that.” Gustus might be a fire-bender, but she knows that her father would never intentionally hurt her. He has mastered his fire bending a while ago and, though he doesn’t use it as much as he did before, he is still skilled. Lexa’s mother once told her that he was in a friendly pro-bending league for a short time and he never lost a game – which only gives Lexa an idea of how good her father is. “Is uncle Tristan coming over tonight?”

 

“He is, with a few of our coworkers.” Indra answers to her daughter. “It shouldn’t be very long this time, though.”

 

She nods at her mother’s words. “I’ll be out, then.” Lexa says. “Some friends invited me to their place, they are doing a get-together or something.”

 

Gustus quirks his eyebrows. “Friends?” He’s simply curious to know who invited his daughter.

 

“Yes, they moved in the neighborhood not long ago.” She begins explaining. “They’re living with their aunt. Their names are Octavia and Bellamy.”

 

“The Blake siblings?”

 

Lexa nods in approval. “You met them?”

 

Indra scoffs. “No, but we’ve heard about their mother. She had problems with the authorities, that’s why they needed to move in with their aunt.” Something tells Lexa that her mother doesn’t want her near Octavia nor Bellamy. “Please, be careful with them.”

 

“They’ve been nice to me since I met them.” Lexa tries to reassure her mother.

 

“I don’t want you to get in trouble because of them.”

 

“I won’t.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> This work is not edited yet and English is not my native tongue.  
> I itched to write something different from my other stories and I'm a fan of ATLA and LOK.  
> I don't know when I'll update, but it's definitely a wolrd that I'd like to explore further more and I have a lot of ideas already. 
> 
> Feel free to share your thoughts on this first chapter, I'd like that very much.  
> Tags will be added when I will update with the chapters.


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